ted the Secessionists. He
expects the nation to recognize rare virtue in that hatred, and hopes it
may win for his State the restoration of her political rights; but he
wears his mask of nationality so lightly that there is no difficulty in
removing it. The South-Carolinian demands only something less than he
did in the days before the war, but he offers no plea of Unionism as a
guaranty for the future. He rests his case on the assumption that he has
fully acquiesced in the results of the war, and he honestly believes
that he has so acquiesced. His confidence in South Carolina is so
supreme that he fails to see how much the conflict meant. He walks by
such light as he has, and cannot yet believe that Destiny has decreed
his State a secondary place in the Union. The Georgian began by
believing that rebellion in the interest of Slavery was honorable, and
the result of the war has not changed his opinion. He is anxious for
readmission to fellowship with New York and Pennsylvania and
Connecticut, but he supports his application by no claim of community of
interest with other States. His spirit is hard and uncompromising; he
demands rights, but does not ask favors; and he is confident that
Georgia is fully as important to the United States as they are to
Georgia.

Complaint is made that the Southern people have recently elected
military men to most of their local State offices. We do ourselves a
wrong in making this complaint. I found it almost everywhere true in
Georgia and the Carolinas that the best citizens of to-day are the
Confederate soldiers of yesterday. Of course, in many individual cases
they are bitter and malignant; but in general the good of the Union, no
less than the hope of the South, lies in the bearing of the men who were
privates and minor officers in the armies of Lee and Johnston. It may
not be pleasant to us to recognize this fact; but I am confident that we
shall make sure progress toward securing domestic tranquillity and the
general welfare, just in proportion as we act upon it. It should be kept
in mind that comparatively few of those who won renown on the field were
promoters of rebellion or secession. The original malcontents,--ah!
where are they? Some of them at least are beyond interference in earthly
affairs; others are in hopeless poverty and chilling neglect; others are
struggling to mount once more the wave of popular favor. A few of these
last have been successful,--to see that no more of